River Runners Pale Ale was the gold medal winner in the International Pale Ale category at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival, an event that led to the eventual canning of the beer. The name comes from a whitewater rafting company on the Arkansas River with whom the brewery shares a friendship and mutual love of rafting and kayaking.

From Eddyline:

"River Runners Pale Ale, which has been crafted by Eddyline Breweryin Buena Vista, Colo. since May 2009, captured the International Style Pale Ale Gold Medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival"

Here we go...

Pour - light golden to start color in appearance with almost an inch of foamy head on top that leaves some nice lacing as it settles.

Aroma - a combination of fresh, grassy, citrusy hops and sweet malt. Love the fresh hop aroma, it really is enticing. There are some slight tropical fruit notes here as well - pineapple and papaya perhaps.

Taste - the first thing that hits the tongue is the sweetness from the malt, its tangy and bready and immediately mixes with the citrus and tropical flavors from the hops. What you get is a very well-balanced pale ale with a good dose of both aroma and bittering hops as well as a malt bill to handle it. A nice tangy, bitter finish leaves the tongue a bit dry and thirsting for more.

Overall - you want easy drinking and plenty of hops? Here you go. River Runners is a well-balanced pale ale with plenty of hop aroma and flavor along with a solid malt backdrop. Even at 6% this tastes very light on the palate and comes across as a lower ABV beer. Good thing it comes in pint cans.

Note - if you, like us, are a fan of the design for the River Runners Pale Ale can you can thank Paul Moline for being the artistic talent responsible. You can check out more of his work HERE